


Three's Not a Crowd If It's a Party

by CoraRey



Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:13:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28203660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CoraRey/pseuds/CoraRey
Summary: An exploration on how Shawn ended up with the two loves of his life
Relationships: Burton "Gus" Guster/Juliet O'Hara/Shawn Spencer
Kudos: 6





	Three's Not a Crowd If It's a Party

**Author's Note:**

> SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE AND FOR A LOT OF EPISODES STARTING IN SEASON 5, EP 11 (I'll post a list) Basically, if you don't wanna spoilers on Shawn/Juliet or Gus/Rachael and on some episodes plots don't read it. 
> 
> Just a warning for those of you who are watching it on Prime for the first time now. 
> 
> This has spoilers for the eps: 
> 
> In Plain Fright 
> 
> Yang 3 in 2D
> 
> The Tao of Gus
> 
> Neil Simon's Lover's Retreat
> 
> Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger
> 
> Santabarbaratown 2
> 
> Juliet Takes a Luvvah
> 
> Cirque du Soul
> 
> Santa Barbarian Candidate
> 
> Dead Air
> 
> Nip and Suck It
> 
> Finale: The Break-Up

\- It's okay. You can have _my_ heart if you need it - Gus says, and looks at Shawn like he just fixed everything. _That's not how it works. Aren't you the smart one?_ Shawn wants to say, cause he's 10, not stupid, and his father needs to do a better job in hiding his medical files and the books he borrowed from the library if he wants Shawn not to read them. He doesn't need someone else's heart, he needs someone to fix the heart he already has, and he couldn't have Gus's heart anyway, cause then Gus would be dead and why would he want to be alive if Gus was dead? And that last thought, right there... He doesn't know why, but he knows he shouldn't mention it to Henry. He's 10, not stupid.

* * *

\- Do you think they'll let me keep the hospital gown? I could make a kickass entrance at Sharon's sweet 16 party - he says and pretends they both don't know he's scared shitless. 

Gus laughs along with him, and tells him how people are gonna think he's a cool cyborgue like The 6 Million Dollar Man when they see his chest scar and goes along with Shawn's pretense that open heart surgery is just another day in a teen's life. And when he leaves he hands Shawn a file he printed with the statistics on the high rate of sucess of surgery like that in someone with Shawn's weight, height and health record, and Shawn hugs him like they'll never see each other again, even though now he's sure they will.

* * *

Gus opens Yahoo and types "I want to marry and kiss my male best friend but also girls". None of the results are really helpful. This internet thing is not all that's made up to be.

* * *

There's this moment at prom. They're taking a walk outside and he makes some stupid joke and Gus laughs a little too loud and they look at each other for a little too long and he _knows_ that if leans on Gus will kiss him, knows it like he knows the sky is blue. 

\- We should go back - he says, and hopes Gus doesn't notice the panic in his voice.

* * *

He wonders if Gus would take him to office parties and if they'd talk about the awkard looks in the car later. Or if Gus would just mention his "partner" in carefully gender-neutral ways and be the black guy that everyone knows is a fairy in an office where there's always a more white, more straight, guy when there's a promotion. He doesn't want to make him choose. Doesn't want to know what he'd choose either.

* * *

Gus is going to college. He's going to get a major in something sensible, something that'll lend him a nice carreer and a minor in something niche that nobody cares about and he's gonna ace them both. He's gonna meet a girl that laughs at his atrocious astronomy jokes and they're gonna have two kids with ridiculous names that will win every science project fair and probably go to college when they're 16.

He has nothing to give Gus that'll make up for him giving up that life.

* * *

He calls Gus when he's five towns away, all cheerful and carefree, and wishes him good luck in college. Doesn't know if he buys it or not. Doesn't know which one he wanted it to happen anyway.

* * *

\- I'm not sure this is safe - Gus tells Mira, touching the paddle in his hand like it's gonna grown teeth and attack him.

\- C'mon - she says, flashing him a smile and boarding the kayak like she's sure he'll follow, cause she knows he will - live a little.

God, he missed this feeling.

* * *

Back in Santa Barbara, Shawn sneaks into Gus's new apartment and tells himself he's not looking for any signs of a woman in his life. Tells himself he's not relieved when he doesn't find any.

* * *

\- You see that? I need you! - Shawn says, and Gus tells himself he said yes because of the forensic guys and not because of that.

* * *

Juliet shows up at Scare Fest. Shawn feels like he's been caught cheating and he doesn't even know on whom.

* * *

\- You're mad at me for not being mad?

\- I'm shocked at you for not being shocked. And I'd like you to be a little sad, cause _I_ am a little sad.

\- Why do you care what your friend thinks?!

\- You know what, Eve? I _don't_ care. I don't care.

Todd shows up behind them with a gun. Shawn's last words on Earth are gonna be a lie.

* * *

Gus grabs the caramel bowl. Shawn hopes Juliet doesn't notice how he sighs in relief.

* * *

\- You know...when you love someone you're willing to make adjustments in the name of a happy relationship. Maybe you'll deal with stuff you never thought it would come up in your love life and some people won't understand and they'll judge you, but at the end of the day it's _your_ life and _your_ happiness and it's worth it. - She looks at Shawn expectantly and when he says _Guess you're right, Lassie will have to know eventually_ his voice is too collected for her comfort.

How come you don't _get_ this?! she wants to scream at him. Juliet would think if _someone_ would come to the conclusion that if you love two people you should just be with both, societal expectations and potencial complications be damned, that someone would be Shawn Spencer.

* * *

\- I would never come between you.

\- You kinda already did - Gus says, and looks at her like he's terrified. 

He is, Juliet realizes. He didn't mean to say it out loud. Ever.

\- Gus - she takes his hand, looks him in the eye - I wouldn't.

Gus doesn't ask her if that means she's breaking up with Shawn. He knows the answer. He's happy it doesn't.

* * *

\- I'm sorry I couldn't always cut loose the way you wanted me to. - It's as much as a confession as he can make in this situation. There are other words, words he've wanted to say forever, but he'll be damned if he sullies them by saying them out loud now. They're not for the ears of deranged killers with muderous syiringes.

* * *

They're sitting at his couch, Shawn in the middle, awkward jokes and pop culture rambles like they're not a bundle of traumas old and new.

Shawn stops at the middle of a rant about Knight Rider, dead in his tracks like he just ran out of fuel.

\- You almost died today.

 _You_ , Gus notices. Not _I._

 _-_ I didn't - he says. - And neither did you.

Shawn puts his head on Gus's shoulder. Falls asleep on it.

At some point during the night Juliet finds Gus's hand.

* * *

He wakes up in his bed the next day and Gus kisses him on the lips like they do this every day, like he just woke up in a dimension where Shawn was less of a coward and kissed him at prom with the faint sound of corny pop songs in the background and years later they rented an apartment and Gus spent a whole month unsucessfully trying to veto Shawn's decoration choices.

He kisses back.

They get up. Juliet made coffee. A weight has been lifted.

* * *

\- Alright, alright. Listen to me, man, I gotta say this. You know that I'm okay with you doing your thing and putting a little vibe out there every once in a while but I think lately things are getting out of hand.

\- Maybe I want somebody special in my life too. You ever think of that?

Shawn's glad Gus can't see his face. 

* * *

\- You wanna explain this? - Gus says, holding the ring.

\- You take a trip with the intention of proposing, and don't tell me, your oldest and blackest friend?

 _My friend,_ he thinks, bewildered. _You're doing the whole jilted lover speech to the guy who woke up on your bed more times than you can count on the last weeks and you can't come up with anything other than_ friend.

 _-_ I called you eight times on that trip!

He did. Each time he was thinking of saying something different.

_Gus, come over and bring an engagement ring, I'm gonna propose to you and Juliet._

_I'm being a grown-up and getting a wife, feel free to do the same, this whole "us" thing was never gonna work anyway._

_Ain't_ I _somebody special?_

\- Just know, if I ever pop the question, I want you on one side and Jules on the other - he says, and then has to tack on something about a killer whale cause it felt too real. He's not good at real.

\- That's story book right there - Gus says.

Shawn goes for a fist bump, that Gus ignores, and wonders if he should have gone for a kiss instead. Anyway, they're late. 

* * *

\- I'm afraid you're gonna leave me when you find a girl cause being with her will be so much easier than this.

\- Easier doesn't mean better, Shawn - Gus says.

Shawn turns on the light, sits at the edge of a bed that's too narrow for three, and isn't that a fitting metaphor? 

\- What do you want? - he says, taking Gus and Juliet's hands.

\- I want to be with you - Juliet says. - And I want Gus to be with you. And I don't really wanna be with anyone else, and I wouldn't like you to be with anyone else, and I want Gus to be with whoever he wants to, as long as you both are happy.

\- I want to be in love - Gus says, and sees the way Shawn tries not to flinch. - With someone else - he says, softer. - Not just with the same person I've been in love for years. I want to finally be in love with a girl without feeling that it's second best.

\- Okay. Alright. I don't really wanna be with anyone else, Jules. And Gus, I want you to be happy, I just... If this whole thing with Juliet taught me something is that turns out secret relationships are not so hot when you're not 20. 

\- Does it have to be a secret? - Juliet didn't even finish asking before he and Gus are saying _No_.

\- Soulmateconect.com lets you select a "polyamory" option - Gus says.

\- I think a lie detector test is sort of an extreme measure to take when dat -

\- Polyamory, not polygraphy - Gus says.

\- You haven't heard it both ways - he and Juliet say at the same time, and Shawn knows this is gonna work. 


End file.
